AK Steel develops two new lines of high-strength automotive steel

AK Steel announced that demonstration samples of its two new types of Advanced High Strength Steel have now been delivered to multiple automotive customers for evaluation.

To deliver the NEXMET™ 1000 and 1200 products the company recently completed upgrades to the its Dearborn Works galvanizing line.

First announced in August 2016, the AK Steel NEXMET family of steel products enables automotive companies to design and manufacture lighter-weight vehicles that are capable of meeting increasingly stringent emissions regulations and passenger safety requirements.

While AK Steel's NEXMET 440EX product is intended for use in surface-critical exposed auto body panels, the new NEXMET 1000 and 1200 products were designed specifically for use in automotive structural components.

NEXMET 1200 “has better formability than conventional dual phase 600 steel, at twice the strength level,” said the company in a press release. This allows automotive engineers to design lightweight parts that meet even more rigorous service and safety requirements.

AK Steel is a producer of flat-rolled carbon, stainless and electrical steel products, and carbon and stainless tubular products, primarily for automotive, infrastructure and manufacturing, electrical power generation and distribution markets.

Headquartered in West Chester, Ohio, the company employs approximately 8,500 men and women at eight steel plants, two coke plants and two tube plants across six states. The company opened recently in Queretaro its first production facility in Mexico.